This would be the inspiration for one of the best known songs in the world. Tom’s melody imitates her gently gracefully swaying gait, which Vinícius describes in the A piece. The B piece turns into a mood of reflection, where Vinícius on the one hand praises her beauty which makes the world smile at turning more beautiful because of love, but on the other hand feels isolated and sad by the thought that the beauty passes by alone and does not exist there just for him.

The melody had started life in 1961. Together with other songs composed then, it was scheduled to be included in a musical comedy called Blimp. However, the show was never realized. Looking at the song again, Tom and Vinícius wanted to add lyrics, and Vinícius wrote a first version called “Menina que passa”, but neither of them was quite satisfied. The inspiration for the final version then came one afternoon in 1962 at Veloso, when they saw Helô pass.

O Encontro au Bon Gourmet

The song was presented for the first time in public in 1962 at a show at the small restaurant Au Bon Gourmet in Avenida Copacabana. This would be the first and only time the three major forces of bossa nova performed together: the composer and piano player Tom Jobim, the great poet Vinícius de Moraes, and João Gilberto, the man who invented the bossa nova guitar beat and, as the coolest singer ever heard, arguably the greatest interpreter of bossanova. They were accompanied by the vocal group Os Cariocas, Otávio Bailley on bass and Milton Banana on drums.

The show launched two other songs written for Blimp: the bossa nova classic “Só Danço Samba” and “Samba do Avião” (written by Tom alone); it also launched other new songs indicating that the song writing partnership between Tom and Vinícius was coming to an end: “Samba da Benção” and “O Astronauta”, both of which Vinícius had written with his new partner Baden Powell.

The show was probably the peak of bossa nova. It was planned to run for one month, but because of the huge interest it was extended for another two weeks. A couple of sets were recorded. In 2004 Daniella Thompson, on the basis of the tapes, wrote an informative review O Encontro au Bon Gourmet of the disc that no one reviewed, because it was never released. Among the things she reported is the introduction to the new song “Garota de Ipanema”, where João, Tom, Vinícius and João again exchange lines about each of them being needed for performance of the song, whereafter they all join in and sing the song together. There is a deep truth hidden under the fun, and hte song is clearly the highlight of the show. Eventually, the disc was released in 2014.

Recordings

The first to record the song in the studio was Pery Ribeiro. He heard it at the Bon Gourmet and became so excited that he went to the studio next day to record it. Soon after, it was recorded by Tamba Trio. These two recordings were released at the same time in January 1963. Os Cariocas also recorded a version which may have been released already in 1962. Later it was recorded by Claudette Soares. But of course, it was still another version, which made the song a world hit, claimed to be the second most performed song ever after “Yesterday” by The Beatles: the version by Stan Getz and João Gilberto with English vocal by Astrud Gilberto, recorded in March 1963.

Bossa nova had gradually attracted more and more attention in the US. Not least jazz musicians became excited about this new cool style of music, which contained the same harmonic sophistication as jazz, but different chord pregressions with very beautiful melodies. The release of Jazz Samba by Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz in April 1962 created a true bossa nova craze. It was only a faint reflection of authentic bossa nova, but the album got immensely popular, not least because Getz’ take on Jobim/Mendonça’s fascinating melody “Desafinado”. In August 1962, Getz recorded Big Band Bossa Nova, arranged by Gary McFarland, with four Brazilian tunes and four originals by McFarland.

The interest sparked a famous bossa nova concert in Carnegie Hall 21 November 1962, where a large program of Brazilian musicians, among them Tom Jobim and João Gilberto, presented the real thing to the American public. The day after the concert, João signed a recording contract with Verve. A couple of days later, João and Tom met Stan Getz and producer Creed Taylor from Verve for some initial rehearsals for the album. João demonstrated how to sing and play “One Note Samba”, which Getz had recorded on both the 1962 albums, but not gotten right.

Before the sessions started in March 1963, Verve recorded Jazz Samba Encore! by Stan Getz and Luiz Bonfá with participation of Tom Jobim and Bonfá’s wife Maria Toledo in February. The recording of Getz/Gilberto, which yielded the definitive version of “The Girl from Ipanema”, involved Tom Jobim on piano, Milton Banana on drums; the bass is sometimes credited to Tommy Williams, and sometimes to Sebastião Neto. Whereas the melodies of bossa nova inspired Getz to some of his most lyrical playing, he had troubles with the relaxed flexible rhythm played by João and Milton Banana.

As is well known, João’s wife Astrud was invited to sing English verses of “The Girl from Ipanema” (by Norman Gimbel) and “Corcovado” (by Gene Lees). After her singing proved a success, everybody involved in the session claimed that it was his idea. But she was not “discovered” by that occasion. She had performed in public by one bossa nova event, but moreover, she sang at many informal gatherings and practiced hard at home under the supervision of her perfectionistic husband with the ambition to start singing professionally. See her own account here.

Creed Taylor sat on the tapes for a long time. At first, he did not want to compete with Jazz Samba, which was still selling well. In the meantime, in May, he recorded and released The Composer of Desafinado Plays, an instrumental album by Tom Jobim, which contained a version of “The Girl from Ipanema”. Later he noticed that Jazz Samba Encore! was only selling decently. In the end, he became convinced that the best way to pave the way for the gold in his hands was Astrud’s English vocal. In December 1963 he released a single version, where João’s singing and a large part of the sax solo was cut out to obtain a suitable length. It sold more than two million copies. The LP was finally released in March 1964.